Trending, Jan. 29 - Feb. 4, 2017

Apple's big holiday quarter

Between October and December 2016, Apple regained the title of world’s largest smartphone vendor. The news comes after Apple announced record iPhone sales for the company’s first quarter of the fiscal year 2017.

During the all-important holiday quarter, Apple shipped 78.29 million handsets, about 800,000 more units than Samsung. In doing so, Apple grabbed 18 percent of the overall smartphone market.

… As iPad still struggles

Apple’s iPad remained the top selling tablet during the holiday quarter. Unfortunately, it remains the leader in a declining market overall. During the quarter, iPad lead with 13.1 million units sold, followed by Samsung with 8.1 million units.

Apple iPad sales have been steadily falling since 2014. The latest numbers represent the third straight decline for the tablet during the all-important holiday quarter and 12th decline in a row overall.

Meanwhile, with Apple Watch …

Strategy Analytics estimates that during the holiday quarter, Apple Watch sales hit a record 5.2 million units. This figure represented 63 percent of all smartwatches sold around the world (8.2 million units) between October and December 2016. Year over year, global smartwatch shipments grew by 1.2 percent, the first increase in six months.

For all of 2016, Apple sold 11.6 million units, vs. 9.5 million units from Samsung and other vendors.